Charlottesville attacker asks for ‘mercy’ in sentencing

Lawyers for the man convicted for ramming a crowd of protesters with his car in Charlottesville, Va., injuring dozens and killing activist Heather Heyer, asked for “mercy” for their client in a memo, arguing that he should not spend the rest of his life in prison.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that lawyers for 22-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. argued that Fields’ age and history of mental illness, along with a traumatic childhood, should factor into a court’s decision that they hoped would amount to less than a life sentence.

{mosads}“No amount of punishment imposed on James can repair the damage he caused to dozens of innocent people. But this Court should find that retribution has limits,” the attorneys reportedly wrote.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued in their own memo that Fields should serve the maximum allowed time under the law, life in prison without parole, to deter future acts of “domestic terrorism,” according to the AP.

“Any mental health concerns raised by the defendant do not overcome the defendant’s demonstrated lack of remorse and his prior history of substantial racial animus,” prosecutors wrote of Fields, who was revealed to be an avowed white nationalist by investigators.

Fields was convicted of first-degree murder in December for Heyer’s death, which occurred at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where white supremacist and neo-Nazi protesters demanded that city officials protect Confederate statues in the area.

The city was the site of a riot that involved vicious battles between protesters and counter-demonstrators.

Fields is set to be sentenced on Friday.